What are algorithms and how do they work?

Machine learning algorithm

Social networks, search engines … nowadays everything seems to work on the basis of algorithms, which arouses the suspicion of many users who do not fully understand how they work, nor artificial intelligence or machine learning. In this article we are going to explain how they work in a very basic way so that everyone can understand them once and for all.

The algorithms learn to display content closer to their tastes based on users’ preferences and actions

The goal of algorithms, artificial intelligence and machine learning is Replicate decision-making processes of the human brain. That is, the algorithm does the entire search process in a few seconds, mimicking how a human would do it and showing the result to the user. This process would be very long if done by one person, but artificially engineered algorithms can do it in a matter of seconds.

At a more basic level, algorithms are a group of actions that run very quickly inside a computer and look something like this: if you do A, you get B. If you do C instead, you get D. That is, hit off a question You make different decisions based on the answer given.

For example, if you search for “pizza in Rome,” Google makes a number of automatic decisions before you get a response. These decisions are made based on any information you have about the user, such as: B. Geolocation or search history. Based on all of this information, it may show you the pizza parlor closest to your position in Rome or a recipe for cooking Roman style pizza.

What is machine learning?

Thanks to machine learning, every action the user takes on Google, every search, every click on a result, every page that is bookmarked, every review in Google My Business allows the engine to learn a little more and its future recommendations refine. In other words, machine learning allows the algorithm to learn from your preferences and take them into account in your next search. Its name indicates it: “The machine learns”.

This is a good example of this Lining from Facebook or the results shown in the Google Discover app. The more you use them and the more interaction you have with the content they show you, the more accurate the recommendations below will be.

Facebook, for example, has been working on this tool for many years and is constantly updating it. For example, if a user follows many animal rescue pages, the algorithm understands that they care for animals and in the future will show ads for dog food, cat beds, or animal toys while recommending pages. and groups of animals.

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